Nov. 21: President Viktor Yanukovych’s government announces plans to abandon an agreement that would strengthen ties with the European Union and instead seeks closer cooperation with Moscow. Protesters take to the streets.
Nov. 30: Police attack a group of protesters, detaining 35. Images of protesters bloodied by police truncheons spread quickly and galvanize public support for the demonstrations. A protest on Dec. 1 attracts about 300,000 people. Activists seize Kiev’s city hall.
Dec. 17: Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that Moscow will buy $15 billion worth of Ukrainian government bonds and allow for a sharp cut in the price Ukrainians pay for Russian natural gas.
Jan. 22: Two protesters die after being hit with live ammunition and a third dies after a fall during a confrontation between police and demonstrators manning barricades. They are the first protest deaths.
Jan. 28: The prime minister resigns and parliament repeals new strict anti-protest laws that had set off violence a week earlier.
Feb. 16: Opposition activists end their occupation of Kiev’s city hall in exchange for the release of all 234 jailed protesters in what is seen as a sign of progress toward resolving the crisis peacefully.
Feb. 18: Street clashes leave at least 26 people, including 10 police officers, dead and hundreds injured. The violence begins when protesters attack police lines and set fires outside parliament after it stalls on taking up a constitutional change to limit presidential powers. Russia’s offer the day before to resume payments under the bailout deal feeds opposition suspicions that Yanukovych has made a deal with Moscow to stand firm against the protesters.
Feb. 20: Hours after a truce is announced, fierce clashes erupt between protesters and police, with numerous casualties.
Feb. 21: Yanukovych signs an agreement with opposition leaders to hold early elections, dilute his powers and form a caretaker government. But many of the protesters demand his removal.
Feb. 22: Parliament votes to dismiss Yanukovych and frees his rival, jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who addresses tens of thousands of people in Independence Square.
Sources: Associated Press, staff reports